Duty Free Mobile Phones

Cellphones • think smart with smartphones ….

There are several reasons why you might want to buy a new cellphone at the airport. The first is simply that your eye has been caught by the latest smartphone, such as the popular Samsung Wave II, or the HTC Sensation running the Android operating system. Or, in some locations, the latest iPhone from Apple that has just introduced the iPhone 5C and the fingerprint sensored 5S.

If it is simply the phone you are after because it is high time yours was replaced, make sure it’s contract-free and “unlocked”, which means you can use any SIM card in it and it is not tied to a particular phone company. The vast majority of the worldwide cellular network is GSM so the smart move is to make sure you get a phone that uses that network. Most do, but in-store staff should be able to advise you on that. If you are not buying the cellphone out of immediate necessity, then don’t rush into a purchase.

Quality cellphones and smartphones like the BlackBerry Z10 smartphone, HTC, Nokia or the Galaxy from Samsung are not cheap items and you want to be confident that you are getting a bargain at the airport. If your home country’s currency is superstrong compared with the country in which you are looking to purchase a new phone, then of course you are in a good position. If you are in the departure lounge in your own country, and you have your own smartphone to hand, you would be well advised to use it to check the price that you are being offered for a given handset against a range of other retailers using online price-comparison websites such as www.kelkoo.co.uk/.com. If you plan on making or receiving a lot of calls when you are overseas, an unlocked phone is essential. Upon arrival, you can then insert a destination-airport bought or locally sourced prepaid SIM card. Some service providers give out free SIM cards to arriving passengers with a small credit attached. That way then you will be paying only local rates for your outgoing calls, rather than paying the potentially colossal roaming charges that your home phone company levies. You will also benefit in that when you receive incoming calls or text messages, you won’t be paying a surcharge, and in some cases you’ll be paying no charge at all. And remember when you are buying a new phone in an airport duty free store you may still need to charge it. Most airport departure areas (and all airport lounges) have charging points. Failing that, a few minutes buying a universal travel adapter is always money well spent.